If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have is that of your own self-transformation -Lao Tzu

The first verse of the Tao Te Ching states “and the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding.” Wayne Dyer in his commentary and translation of this verse in the fantastic book Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life states: “Let the world unfold without always trying to figure it out.”

Life is a mystery unfolding before us and we are exactly where we are meant to be in this moment. I am learning each time I get into a new ‘ mystery’ which I refer to as any change or occurrence that causes stress or intrigue or that I cannot understand that it is exactly as it should be. I’ve started to remind myself, ‘ahhhh I’m in another mystery. I know something good is going to unfold from this.’ If I can remember this–I don’t always–I can enjoy it and be open to it. I do love in life how most of the mysteries eventually get solved and something interesting and meant for my growth always comes of it. I just need to remember to take some deep breaths, stay in the present and remain on the path.

“Set your eyes on the highest state you can imagine and don’t take them off. If you slip get back up. It doesn’t matter. The very fact that you even want to go through the process of freeing the energy flow means you are great. You will get there. Just keep letting go.”

As a women’s health expert and mom I feel privileged to spend time with women during the most pivotal years of their lives. I initially started this blog in 2008 to help inspire and help women including myself to live our best and most healthful lives. For years in addition to my passions of caring for patients and being a mom I enjoyed answering your important health questions and discussing important health topics. In recent years due to health challenges with my daughter I have explored many alternative forms of medicine and have loved and embraced the integrative approach.

Like all things in life change comes. As Lao Tzu says with every ending is a new beginning. I have been studying for years numerous authors and engaging with thought leaders about how to live our best lives in every way. What is health without joy, purpose or connection in life? And without joy, purpose or connection combined with excessive stressors it is impossible to achieve optimal health and wellness. It is all integrated. It is not only connected, it is a continuum; truly inseparable.

I have realized that the most powerful form of wellness is to embrace Eastern, Western, and other alternative modalities, and integrate them into a patient and individual specific approach for optimal health.

We are all connected. Let’s dialogue and share and grow together in our pursuit of health, joy and purpose. My intention is to share thoughts that have inspired and influenced me and bring a fresh cup of joy and connection for the body, mind and soul.

I have 2 children 2 years and 5 years and I feel that my PMS depression is getting worse since they were born. I suffer from very angry bouts on certain days in the middle of my periods and more recently I suffer from these during the time I have my period. It is uncontrollable anger and sadness and I just feel like crying. I can’t explain how angry I feel and I feel now that it’s affecting my life and my children. I feel very down a lot, have lost my self confidence. I went to a doctor to get a medical check and the only thing she found was under-active thyroid which can also cause depression, I am on tablets now but I don’t notice any change in my moods. A friend of mine said she had PMDD which affected her life badly and now she is on medication Prozac and it’s much better but it makes her sleepy. Please I would like some advice.

First I want to commend you for being so proactive about your health and well-being by taking the time to see your doctor and write in to us. I know this is not easy to do amidst your busy parenting schedule and the difficult symptoms you’re having. Many of the symptoms you are describing can also be present in thyroid disease, so I am glad you were evaluated for that and are on the proper medications.

I wrote a lot about PMS (premenstrual syndrome)/PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) in a prior PMS article. These disorders include many of the symptoms you describe, occur anytime up to about a week or two before your period starts, and the symptoms are usually gone by the fourth day of your period. [click to continue…]

Recently, we answered readers’ questions on the CA 125 test for detecting ovarian cancer. Today we will follow up with a discussion on the early symptoms of ovarian cancer and some of the risk factors and protective factors. Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of death among the gynecological cancers. The most common type of ovarian cancer usually is diagnosed when a woman is in her 50’s. Typically, ovarian cancer does not present with obvious symptoms until a late stage of the disease, when the prognosis is poor. Fortunately, it has been recently discovered that there may be early symptoms of ovarian cancer that if recognized, could hopefully detect it at an earlier stage and improve survival. [click to continue…]

What happens when you don’t take the prenatal vitamins? What happens to the child?

This is a great women’s health and pregnancy question as many women don’t know they are pregnant in the first trimester, or are so nauseated it makes it hard to take prenatal vitamins.

One of the most important components in a prenatal vitamin is folic acid. This vitamin help prevent malformations of the spine (neural tube defects like spina bifida), skull, and brain and 800 mcg is the minimum recommended pregnancy dosage. The tricky part is that the neural tube closes about 2-4 weeks after conception, so often you don’t even know you are pregnant and may not have started a prenatal vitamin. We recommend that all women of childbearing age take a multivitamin or prenatal vitamin daily, since 50% of pregnancies are unplanned. If you have not been taking folic acid and just found out you are pregnant, the good news is that most of the time it is okay [click to continue…]

How long should you be off of the birth control pill before starting to try to get pregnant?

Good for you for planning ahead for a healthy pregnancy. We used to recommend stopping the pill and waiting for at least three periods to start trying to conceive. The thought was that this will give your body time to start ovulating and for you to start charting when your last menstrual period occurs. The first date of your last menstrual period (LMP) is an important date for calculating the baby’s due date, and before the advent of good ultrasound machines, this was all that was used for dating the pregnancy. Nowadays, we still ask for the LMP, but we perform an early first trimester ultrasound to compare it to the period date to determine the most accurate due date.

I keep getting that email that talks about theCA 125 test forovarian cancer and to ask your doctor. I did ask my doctor and she said it really wasn’t a good test, but we didn’t have time to discuss. What are your thoughts on it? I know ovarian cancer is an awful cancer.

I get asked this excellent question by patients all the time, and I too have received that email about the CA 125 test too many times to count. The interest in diagnosing ovarian cancer early on is valid, given that it has the highest death rate of all the gynecological cancers and can be very hard to diagnose at an early stage. Fortunately, this type of cancer is not very common; the lifetime chance of developing ovarian cancer is just less than 2%. [click to continue…]

Since I receive so many questions on birth control, I have decided to do a series on the various birth control options available. In this issue I thought I would start with listing the different methods and then will discuss the birth control pill.

Fortunately, we are very lucky to have so many great methods available to us, compared to just 10-15 years ago. [click to continue…]

Mona Saint M.D., M.P.H. is a board certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist in Orange County, CA. In addition to her extensive experience as a women’s health physician, she also completed an additional Master’s degrees in Maternal & Child Health and an Internship in Family Practice and she loves Integrative Medicine.

She is also a busy mom and lives in Orange County, CA with her three children and her husband. She loves both of her careers as a physician and mom and integrates them both into her perspectives. In her down time she loves spending time with family and close friends, loves the beach and nature, reading, meditating, cooking, wine, music, movies, design, travel, and absolutely loves ice cream, dark chocolate and her daily cup of Zen tea!